Audition

“The crowning glory of a remarkable career.”
—Liz Smith, New York Post

“An ambitious and successful book… . Suffused with an emotional intensity… . It belongs to a part of American culture that Walters helped invent.”
—The New Yorker

“Walters doesn’t shy from the tough stuff… . Nor does she, an entertainer as much as a groundbreaking journalist, skimp on the fun bits.”
—People

“A frank, graceful memoir of a … groundbreaking career in television.”
—O, The Oprah Magazine

“Walters’ heartfelt candor lifts this book above mere titillation… . Blended with this personal drama is a delightful tale of the golden age of television… . She regales you with the juicy behind-the scenes details of the celebrities she’s interviewed, mixed in with stories of her own trials and tribulations. In the end, you envy her a little less and admire her more.”
—The Washington Post

“Audition contains some fascinating stories (Walters censoring her interview with a sloshed Betty Ford), a good deal of frankness (defending her friendship with GOP power broker Roy Cohn), and grand old war stories from her groundbreaking stints with Today and ABC News.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Compulsively entertaining.”
—Salon

“Witty, candid and full of history, both her own and of the events of the past five decades, Walters’s memoir is a fascinating look at the life of a groundbreaking journalist.”
—The Post and Courier (Charleston)

“Audition is brutally honest, both about Walters and those she’s worked with. Readers won’t be left wondering what she thinks of anything, or anyone, for that matter… . It’s a fascinating look at a woman who has lived a fascinating life.”
—Laura L. Hutchison, The Free Lance-Star

“A triumph!”
—Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic

“The grande dame of TV news has written a blockbuster… . Readers will gobble up the excerpts from scores of interviews with world leaders, politicians, celebrities and murderers.”
—Kathleen Daley, New York Sun

“An indispensable book along with a surefire monster best seller … intensely readable… . She’s TV’s original monarch and superstar where power, show business and journalism converge. It’s Barbara Walters’ world, and the rest of us just live in it. [Her] mammoth memoir, doesn’t just touch chords, it’s a 600-plus page oratorio.”
—Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News

“Ms. Walters’s story is greatly humanized by the family memoir that colors her long litany of professional successes.”
—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“The crowning glory of a remarkable career.”
—Liz Smith, New York Post

“Sizzling.”
—Jo Piazza, New York Daily News

“Compulsively readable… . [Walters] gives us an entertaining panorama of a full life lived and recounted with humor and bracing honesty. Alternating between tales of her personal struggles, professional achievements and insider anecdotes about the celebrities and world leaders she’s interviewed, this mammoth memoir’s energy never flags.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“A smart, funny, fascinating book in which Walters captures possibly her most elusive subject: herself.”
—Ilene Cooper, Booklist (starred)

BARBARA WALTERS was an award-winning journalist and the first woman to ever cohost a network news program. She is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She was an ABC News correspondent, host of The Barbara Walters Specials and the creator of ABC Daytime’s The View. She died in 2022.

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